Increase Google Position
 

Increase Google Position  - carefully explained and what you can do with it - written by top SEO experts

Red Door Interactive's director of search marketing discusses how to increase brand awareness, attract prospects and convert more leads through SEO.

Your customers need to know who you are before they invest in your products and services. Most companies delve into traditional advertising or direct marketing campaigns. Fine. But there is a better way.

Search engine optimization can increase brand awareness, attract targeted prospects and convert more leads than most marketing strategies. Sound interesting? You bet. Let me tell you how.  

The marketing power of search
 I think we can agree that the website, the search engine and the browser have changed the business landscape as we once knew it. And it all started with Search.

In 1996, a young man started publishing editorial commentary about search engines. He was fascinated with how they worked, what they could do, who was searching and what they were searching for. He shared his knowledge, interacted with his audience and his commentary was well received. His name is Danny Sullivan, and his legacy is history.

1996 to 1998 was a period of explosive growth in new websites. Search engine submission services were offered to these websites so they could "be found." However, the quality of services varied widely, and there were many unscrupulous vendors.

One entrepreneur plowed through the noise and produced a methodology and a suite of tools for organic search engine optimization (SEO) that yielded high rankings within search engine rules. His name is Bruce Clay. As far as I know, and I think Danny will back me up, Bruce is responsible for coining the term, "search engine optimization."

 
Many web site owners only list their businesses on search engines like Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL. And, yes, over 90% of all searches are done through these search engines.

However, web sites that list on these search engines are hardly ever found by the searchers.

Why?

The reasons are fairly plain to see: there are only ten Top 10 positions for any search phrase and unless you get into the Top 30 the chances are that you are "lost" in a sea of web sites. Even with good SEO, which most web sites do not apply, it is very difficult to be visible on these search engines.

What is the alternative?

An alternative, or rather, a supplementary means of web site promotion is using niche market directories. You do not ignore the search engines, you merely use additional forms of online promotion.

A niche market directory is a business directory that targets an specific market, or even a sub-section of a market. A directory may target the travel industry, or travel in a specific region, or even only travel agents in a specific region.

How does this benefit you?

1. Increase your chances of being found on search engines: Apart from your own listings in search engines these directories are also listed there. And with good directories, even your listings will get listed on the search engines.

2. Get more targeted visitors: As the directory targets your niche market, the visitors that browse the directory are already from your target market so that, by the time they click through to your web site, they are highly targeted visitors.

3. Get a higher sales conversion: As the visitors that click through to your web site is already highly targeted your chances of getting an enquiry or a sale is much better than the untargeted visitors you often get from search engines.

4. Increase your link popularity: A part of the search engines ranking system looks at the sites linking back to your web site. A link back from a directory in your niche market can add to your link popularity helping you in your search engine rankings.

5. Free advertising: Many niche market directories offer free listings, allowing you to promote your business without spending a fortune.

6. Expand your net:

Each directory you list in expands your source of traffic. Listing only in search engines probably gives you about 5 to 10 sources of traffic. Additional listings in 10 directories increase your sources of traffic to 20, in 50 increases it to 60, and so forth.

7. Targeted advertising:

Search engines list you in a general database. Directories, by its nature, are divided into categories and sub-categories and you select the category that is most suitable for your business, further increasing your targeted marketing effort.

8. Multiple listing options:

Most directories offer you multiple listing options such as featured listings and listings in multiple categories. These option further increase your exposure not only within the directory but often on the search engines as well.

9. Control your listings

Most good niche market directories allow you to log on and make alterations to your listings and to your contact details. You can therefor ensure that your details are always up to date.

10. Your marketing partner:

Most directory owners actively market their directories within their niche markets to ensure the maximum number of targeted visitors. You benefit from these marketing efforts without having to spend an additional cent. In addition, most directories ask their listed business to link back to them, further increasing the directory traffic and as a result, your traffic of targeted visitors.

Marketing your business on niche market directories can increase you online success substantially due to the increase in your targeted visitors.

If you haven't done so yet start looking for directories in your niche market - simply do a search engine search for "{insert your niche market} directory" and start exploring.

Many advertiser's using Google's pay per click advertising system, AdWords, are losing money every single day by failing to do one simple thing; they're not using negative keywords.

What Is A Negative Keyword?

It's a word or phrase that you add to your Campaign or Ad Group in order to prevent your advert being displayed in response to a search that may not be relevant to you. Let's look at a quick example:

You run a web site that sells digital cameras but not digital camera batteries. So the last thing you want is for the battery searcher to click on your advert.

You could just bid on the exact phrase 'digital cameras' and the like to reduce the risk but if you want to get the balance right between maximum exposure but avoid irrelevant clicks, then I suggest you use a combination of phrase match with plenty of negative keywords thrown in to the mix.

In the example above, you could bid on "digital cameras" but add 'batteries' as a negative so preventing your ad being displayed for a search containing this word.

Why Bother?

Quite simply, you'll save money and improve conversions for your AdWords campaign.

Google rewards relevancy meaning that in very simple terms, the higher you can get your Click through Rate (CTR) the more relevant your advert is deemed to be. As a consequence, it is perfectly feasible for an advertiser at position #1 to be paying less than advertisers in lower positions who haven't worked as hard at optimising their campaigns. Clearly, if our 'battery searcher' doesn't click on your ad (and why would they?) then your CTR will suffer.

Conversely, they do click on your ad. This is what I call a 'curiosity click'. OK, your CTR hasn't suffered but your budget certainly has. A wasted click combined with quality scoring, means your campaign has just taken a real knock.

How Do You Find Negative Keywords?

There's many ways to skin this particular cat but like so much with Search Marketing, it starts with good keyword research.

Research your keywords then copy these to a new text file or spreadsheet. I then search and replace (with blanks) my primary phrases and words that are relevant. This then leaves words and phrases that are irrelevant to our campaign, i.e., our negative keywords.

This process can take a while to work through and refine. It's important to be sure that what you're left with is a list of words/phrases that you definitely wouldn't want your advert to be displayed for.

Since search engines are the first stop for people on the Internet looking for goods or services, the position your website appears in search results is an important factor. If your URL shows up far down the results list, the chances of the consumer never finding you increase incrementally. Once you achieve a high search engine position, it is essential that you make sure you maintain the high ranking you have worked so hard to achieve.

This means you must come up with a strategy to monitor your search engines positions. This strategy is crucial to the success of any marketing campaign. Think of your search engine positions as your online portfolio. Would you let your stock portfolio be ruled by chance and market fluctuations, or would you keep close tabs on your stocks so you could buy and sell when the time is right? This is the way you must consider your search engines positions.

Be aware that at first, after you have launched your search engine campaign and done all the right things to increase your rankings, you will most likely see a continual upward climb. What you need to be on the lookout for is the moment that upward climb reaches a plateau. When this happens, your search engine position campaign moves into stage two, the monitoring and protecting stage.

In stage two, do not be concerned about the short-term fluctuations in your positions. These are similar to the subtle rising and falling of stocks in a portfolio. Short-term movement is an integral part of the whole process. It's the long-term changes that you must watch for and prepare to act on immediately.

Analyzing the long-term trends of search engines positions is imperative. The way in which search engines rank websites may change at the drop of hat. If you are unaware of these changes - many of which are subtle yet can be deadly to your ranking - your position may drop to the bottom of the list before you can get your bearings. To prevent this kind of precipitous drop, you must create a system to monitor your positions on a monthly basis. Devise a chart to keep tabs on your top ranking positions or your top pages, and make sure to watch "the market" closely.

Each search engine uses a formula to compute website rankings. When a search engine changes this formula in any way, it may raise or lower your ranking. Some search engines use a number of different formulas, rotating them so that a formula doesn't become overused or outdated. Depending on which formula is being applied, your search engine position may suddenly drop or rise in rank significantly. Therefore, you must check your positions frequently in order to catch when a search engine changes formulas and what effect it has on your positions.

You must also deal with your competition - a crucial factor you must always be vigilant about. Your competitor's position may suddenly rise, automatically lowering your position. Or their position may drop, pushing your position higher. Each month, expect position changes due to the continual changes that are occurring in your competitor's position, and be prepared to adjust your marketing strategy to compensate for decreased rankings. Monitoring these fluctuations will also give you vital information about how to improve your website to increase your position in search results.

Of course, you must discern what the most popular search engines are in order for your monitoring efforts to be effective. Right now, there are ten popular search engines that direct most of Internet traffic to your sites. The challenge you face is that these top ten may change from month to month.

This means that your must not only monitor your search engine positions, but you must also keep track of the ranking popularity of the search engines you are monitoring. Find out which search engines people use most frequently every month and be sure to live in the present! People are fickle about their favorite search engines, and it takes constant vigilance to follow their dalliances. The search engines they loved when you first launched your campaign may be old news in the next few months. You must adjust your list of engines according to the whims of the Internet users. Check out http://www.searchenginewatch.com/reports/netratings.html for a current list of website favorites.

Another factor to monitor carefully is a sudden drop of your positions in all search engines. This is not the same as monthly fluctuations - this is a neon red warning sign! It could mean a number of different things.

It all your search engine positions have plummeted, it may indicate that search engines spiders - those sneaky programs that seek out your site and rank their positions - have found some type of problem with your website. If you have recently changed the code, for instance, the spider may become utterly confused and consequently drop your positions disastrously. If a spider creeps up on your website when it is down for adjustments or changes, you may actually disappear from a search engine index entirely. Or a search engine may drastically change its formula, and suddenly all of your website come up as irrelevant. If that search engine is a current favorite, it may create a domino effect, causing all of your position to drop in all search engines.

Some search engines rely on the results from other search engines, and it is vital that you know which engines these are and keep track of all the engines they influence. The biggest problem here is that search engines will sometimes change affiliations, and this can create a major shift in the geography of the Internet. For example, recently Yahoo decided to display only results gleaned from Google. So you must not only monitor your own positions, but you must keep abreast of seismic shifts in the landscape of the Internet as a whole.

Finally, pay attention to your keywords. Keywords are the foundation bricks of the entire search engine system, and they demand individual scrutiny in your monitoring efforts. If you have found that a number of your positions have plummeted, it may mean that a page of your website has become invisible or inaccessible to search engine spiders. Or the competition for that particular keyword or phrase has recently rocketed into outer space. In either case, you must act quickly and efficiently to regain lost ground.

Your search engine marketing campaign is an investment. If costs you time and money on a continual basis. Protect this investment as diligently as you would your financial portfolio. In the same way, track your positions from an objective perspective, and monitor your positions on a regular basis. Make sure your time and effort reap rewards by keeping your eye on the big picture - your long-term marketing